Pipeline opposition growing

Why should Georgia landowners have to cede property rights
to benefit nobody in Georgia, and at risk of our aquifer and
environment?
But Dougherty County residents are still playing NIMBY instead
of trying to stop it entirely.

Dougherty County landowners who’ve been contacted by representatives
of a group planning the 465-mile Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline
projected to run underneath their property say they’re not convinced
by assurances that the $3 billion project is safe.

And they’re preparing to challenge the pipeline even as project
surveyors seek access to their land.

“This is not just a threat to my land, to our region’s water,
to the environment and to my family’s safety,” one property
owner said. “It’s a threat to what Albany is. This is a black
nebula that threatens every person in this region.”

Houston-based Spectra Energy announced plans for the Sabal Trail
Transmission pipeline, a joint project with Juno Beach, Fla.’s
NextEra Energy Inc. and Florida Power & Light, in July. The project
is expected to initiate in central Alabama’s Tallapoosa County and
terminate in central Florida’s Osceola County. The 465-mile on-shore
path of the pipeline, which will have the capacity to pump 1 billion
cubic feet of natural gas per day, includes 55 miles in Alabama, 196
in Georgia and 214 in Florida.

The route proposed for the project would come through a large swath
of Dougherty County.

The article has more details about opposition, and there’s even a quote
from a Sabal Trail spokesperson, “early in the vetting process”,
“potential corridor”, “listening to the landowners”.
They should listen to this landowner response:

Some of those landowners, though, aren’t interested in talking with
project officials. Roselyn Beasley Bridges, who owns property near
the point where Mitchell, Worth, Colquitt and Dougherty counties
share boundaries, said she’s tried to make that point clear to
officials seeking permission to survey her land.

“My family has been on this land for seven generations,”
Bridges said. “My mom and dad taught us that we are the
caretakers of our land, and I feel if we don’t protect our land
— protect our water and our ecosystem — we’re going to
lose it. Every person in this region who turns on a faucet and gets
a glass of pure, clear drinking water should thank God.

“And that, more than anything, is what I feel is at stake
here.”

Here’s something different about Dougherty County:

Contacted about the language of Maidens’ letter, Dougherty County
Commission Chairman Jeff Sinyard said he would look into the matter
further.

Imagine that!
A county chairman actually looking out for the county!

And it seems Sabal Trail is already trying to use eminent domain.
This part is pretty bad:

Dougherty Sheriff Kevin Sproul said he’s not received any complaints
from landowners about the efforts of Sabal Trail representatives,
but he confirmed that the company does have the right to survey
privately-owned land, with or without permission, under Georgia law.

“I researched the section of the Code mentioned in the letter,
and it looks like it’s pretty much black and white,” Sproul
said. “Under Georgia’s eminent domain law, the right to
exercise such power is granted. Landowners’ hands are pretty much
tied.

“I would hope that our folks would, in the spirit of
cooperation, allow this surveying to go on with no trouble.”

Asked what his office’s response would be if landowners refused
access and ordered surveyors off their land, Sproul said, “I
would hope it wouldn’t come to that.”

I think it will come to that.
And I think it will be really bad publicity for the pipeline project.

Here’s something all the landowners in Georgia need to address:

“We understand that this pipeline is going to go
through,” one said. “When there’s that much money at
stake, it’s going to happen. But we want them to take a closer look
at their pipeline route and find a way to impact fewer people. The
approach needs to be more rural, not urban.”

But that argument, an official warned, poses another problem:
“When you do that, you’re just putting your concerns on
someone else.”

The pipeline doesn’t have to go through, and yes, it can be stopped.
If enough of us want to stop it.
And we should.

‘We have similiar issues and concerns in North Florida. They wanted to run the pipeline through a first magnitude spring after local opposition they’ve moved it a half mile down. Obviously, endangered animals only swim upstream. Where are the state and federal people who are supposed to be monitoring this project? How many pipelines can we run under our rivers and wells and still expect no problems to occur and if they mess up our water what then?